Is There a Direct Text Which Ends Tithing?

Michael Peralta says: Where in the New Testament are we told NOT to tithe? I see the practice of circumcision changed, the practice of unclean food changed, the practice of blood sacrifice changed. But NO WHERE in the New Testament do I see that we are told that we don't have to tithe anymore. I challenge you to find such a scripture (a direct scripture just like we find for circumcision, blood sacrifice of animals, unclean food regulations.
Find me such a New Testament scripture. Where is it sir? Where?

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Mr. Peralta

1.  Here is your direct text.

Heb 7:18 “For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.” It is “direct” because, in the context of chapter 7 and entire book of Hebrews, “commandment” must, at the very least, refer back to “commandment” in 7:5 which was “of necessity changed” in 7:12. Why? The words “commandment, tithes and law” first occur in Hebrews in 7:5. The “change” of 7:12 was not “from Levi to gospel workers”; no, it was from “Levi” to “being disannulled.” If you still disagree, I challenge you to disprove my logic.

 

2.  What “hermeneutic” (principle of interpretation) do you consistently use when bringing something from before Calvary to something after Calvary? I insist on an answer to this question before you again attempt to prove me in error. Covenant theology (mostly Presbyterian) says that everything before Calvary automatically carries into the post-Calvary era unless specifically repealed. That appears to be your logic. If it is, then I have scores of examples for you to explain.

 

Dispensational theology says that only that which is repeated after Calvary in terms of grace and faith applies after Calvary. That is my consistent hermeneutic and tithing is not repeated to the Church or Gentiles.

 

3.  The existence of direct texts is a poor hermeneutic to use. For example the Law required killing children who struck or cursed parents – yet there is no direct text which repeals such punishment. The same is true of commanding menstrual women to leave the house and congregation, of the destruction of houses with mildew, of wives suspected of infidelity being required to eat dirt from the sanctuary and of the legal right to own slaves. There is no direct scripture ending any of those.

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I challenge you to show me a direct text which:

4. DEFINITION: No text changes holy tithes from “food from inside God’s holy land of Israel” to “increase of all income from Gentiles also.” There are 16 texts which describe the contents of the holy tithe as only food from the holy land (Lev 27:30-34). Since that is legally the way the “holy tithe” was used by Moses, Hezekiah, Nehemiah, Malachi and Jesus, a court of law would limit your definition.

 

5. RECIPIENT #1: No text changes the 1st recipient of the first whole food tithe from the Levite servants of the priests (Numb 18:21-24; Neh 10:37b) towards gospel workers. Their modern counterparts would be deacons, greeters and all church workers except ministers. The change was disannulment per Hebrews 7:18.

 

6. RECIPIENT #2: No text changes the 2^nd recipient of the first whole tithe from the O.T. priests (Numb 18:24-28; Neh 10:38) to gospel workers. Note: 1^st Cor 9:13-14 is self-defeating because 9:13 opens the door for all types of temple support while 9:14 limits support of gospel workers to acts of grace and faith. The change was disannulment per Hebrews 7:18.

 

6. RECIPIENT #3: No text changes the recipient of the yearly festival tithe from all of the people towards being totally ignored by tithe-teaching churches today (Deut 12:1-19; 14:22-26). The change was its annulment per Hebrews 7:18.

 

7. RECIPIENT #4: No text changes the third third-year tithe for the poor from the poor towards being totally ignored by tithe-teaching churches today (Deut 14:28-29; 26:12-13). The change was its total disannulment per Hebrews 7:18.

 

8. LOCATION: No text changes the location of the Old Covenant tithes from 1st) Levitical cities (Neh 10:37-38), 2nd) streets of Jerusalem and 3rd) local towns for the poor towards so-called church “storehouses” (a false teaching).

 

9. TIME: No text changes the TIME to tithe from harvest to any time. To Hebrews this meant that the tithe was about 23% for food producers. This 23% is ignored today.

 

10. WHY: No text changes the tithe to support an Old Covenant Law society towards supporting gospel workers. In fact, the change of priesthood from the household of Aaron towards every believer abolished the necessity for tithing (1 Pet 1:9; Rev 5:10).

 

11. COVENANT: No text changes the New Covenant into the same wording as the Old Covenant to include tithing (Heb 8:8-13; Gal 4:21-26; 2 Cor 3:6-10).

 

12. DEATH: No text changes the fact that the believer is dead to the law and that law cannot tell a dead person what to do. The New Covenant “law of life in Christ” (Rom 8:3) does not command tithing; it commands freewill generous sacrificial giving.